Thus far, every single Democrat in the Senate and nearly all in the House are taking the position that they will not allow funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless their Republican colleagues pay a ransom in the form of millions of work permits for illegal aliens.
The headlines should read: "Democrats hold DHS hostage and demand ransom of work permits for illegal aliens."
This week, a federal judge temporarily halted President Obama's most recent executive actions on immigration. But what exactly does that mean? Josh Gerstein of Politico explained the decision as well as anyone.
The fact that the judicial branch has joined the House of Representatives and a majority of states in questioning the constitutionality of the President's executive actions on immigration should make it obvious that the Senate needs to proceed to a debate on the Department of Homeland Security funding bill and add its voice to this critical constitutional question.
A week ago, the Center for Immigration Studies made public some government statistics it obtained through a Freedom Of Information Act request from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS' data show that since 2009, the executive branch has issued 982,000 new work permits to citizens of other countries who were in the United States illegally. The government statistics also show that 470,000 work permits have been issued to aliens here on tourist visas. During this time, work permits were issued to aliens in multiple visa categories that are not eligible for U.S. employment by law.
If you listen to President Obama and his supporters – most notably, main stream media correspondents – his executive amnesties are needed to prevent the deportation of non-priority illegal aliens. But as the term “non-priority” suggests, Obama had already made these illegal aliens safe from deportation. His real goal is to give them work permits, irrespective of how it endangers American workers or the constitutional underpinnings of the presidency itself. And that's why he must be stopped.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) introduced the Nuclear Family Priority Act, H.R. 604, last week that would end the practice of chain migration and have the single biggest impact on reducing overall legal immigration numbers. The following is a letter of endorsement written by NumbersUSA President Roy Beck.
This week Rep. Marsha Blackburn called attention to the most controversial and least discussed aspect of President Obama's executive actions on immigration:
In her story, "CRS Report of the Week: The President's Immigration Accountability Executive Action," Colby Itkowitz of In The Loop writes:
This week, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon praised President Obama's executive actions that will grant up to 5 million foreign nationals, including Mexicans, lawful access to American jobs despite being in the U.S. illegally. Calderon expressed hope that more Mexicans could get temporary U.S. work permits soon.
So much for the open, respectful discussion of key issues that Pres. Obama advocated in his State of the Union address. It came after after taunting the assembled Members of Congress that his unilateral executive actions on immigration that completely by-passed Congress are beyond any further discussion.